Louisiana gov.‘s executive order allows state to punish Christians over gay ‘weddings’: family leader

BATON ROUGE, April 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has signed an executive order that critics say will open the floodgates for discrimination lawsuits to be filed against businesses and will prevent people of faith from freely exercising their religion.

The order, which was signed yesterday, adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” alongside such immutable characteristics as race, sex, and national origin in the state's anti-discrimination policy. All firms that accept state contracts must adopt a similar policy.

“We are fortunate enough to live in a state that is rich with diversity,” said Gov. Edwards on Wednesday. “We do not discriminate based on our disagreements.”

Edwards, a Democrat, rescinded an executive order enacted by former Gov. Bobby Jindal last May, which prohibits the state from taking any “adverse action” against any person or business who acts on a belief “that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.”

Gov. Jindal penned the “Marriage and Conscience” order just hours after state legislators, including many Republicans, defeated a similar bill introduced by State Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City.

Gov. Edwards ripped his predecessor's action, saying it did “nothing but divide our state” and “goes against everything we stand for – unity, acceptance, and opportunity for all.”

His own “executive order respects the religious beliefs of our people,” and “signals to the rest of the country that discrimination is not a Louisiana value,” Gov. Edwards said.

“Ironically, while other states are seeking to protect people of faith, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards seems to be using his executive power to silence those same people of faith,” said Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum.

LFF said the order “introduces sexual politics into the workplace” and calls the religious exemption “extremely narrow.”

"Nowhere in Louisiana law (or the executive order) is a legal definition provided for the newly protected categories," Mills added.

The previous order “sanctions unfair discrimination and prevents growth in Louisiana’s creative economy,” said Lampton Enochs, CEO of Moonbot Studios, which won an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2012. It produces a wide range of materials aimed at children.

“A welcoming and fair workplace is not only the right thing to do, but is good for business,” agreed Rev. Lindy Broderick, the executive vice president of the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, who is also a deacon at a United Methodist church in Shreveport.

However, individuals and small business owners with deeply held traditional beliefs about sexuality – including photographers, bakers, and elderly florists – across the nation have faced crushing fines and government sanctions for refusing to take part in a ceremony that violated their religion.